Commodore Free 25/Commodore_Free_Issue_25_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.news 2

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Commodore Free Issue 25 News part 2


After discussions about what to do
with the list and how to go about
things, (one of the main things we
didn't want to do was duplicate what
was already available through VCSWEB,
which is the Homestead list). Also as
the membership for COMMODOR is pretty
light compared to the Homestead list,
we also didn't want to just end the
oldest Commodore mailing list in
existence. It seemed important to keep
the continuity, but perhaps rather
than have the list be for general
discussion it could possibly serve a
different purpose.

One of the things that's been
mentioned a few times over the last
few years is the possibility of having
a mailing list specifically for
Announcements and News. So this is what
the new focus of the COMMODOR list will
be. Discussions about Commodore News &
any announcements on the COMMODOR list
is encouraged so it won't be just a
'one way' News only type list.

The Homestead list will remain as
always, a general Commodore topics
list where as long as it's about our
favourite computers, it's on topic. I
have no plans to rename the Homestead
list. The name means a great deal to
me, and as the two lists serve
different purposes, there's no reason
to merge the two lists together.

Hopefully this brings everyone up to
date on the situation. Buffalo.edu
will be pulling the plug on Sept 15th,
and the migration to
[e-mail] will take place on
the 14th. The folks at Buffalo.edu
have been extremely helpful in
providing Robert with lists of members
- one for digest Emails and the other
for regular delivery. I'll be able to
re-subscribe members with their same
preference in this regard, and also
set any members 'no mail' that have
this setting.

The university has also supplied the
archives for the Commodor list, and
I'll be trying to make this available
as soon as I figure out the best way
to go about it. The archives start in
1996, but I'm fairly certain the
actual list started around 1994.

Hopefully this helps let everyone know
what's up, and gives a bit of a
history to the list and explains the
plans for the list. I also feel it's
vital to understand that the two lists
won't have the same content, so
there's no reason to merge them. Many
people have asked for a News type
list, and this seemed the appropriate
thing to do.

We do our best to support Commodore
computing, so I really hope there's
not a lot of angst about this change.
That certainly isn't the intention.

Cheers,
Gaelyne

-----Original Message-----
From: COMMODORE COMPUTERS DISCUSSION
[mailto:[e-mail]]
On Behalf Of Robert Bernardo
Sent: 15 September 2008 05:55
To: COMMODOR
Subject: A final message at Commodor
at Buffalo.edu

Hello, all Commodor members, Today,
Sunday, is the last time to post final
messages here on the Commodor mailing
list at Buffalo.edu As mentioned
before, post any new messages to

[e-mail]

I am hoping the transition will be
smooth and that the new Commodor list
will meet your needs.If you have any
news, events, and discussion of those
items, feel free to post to our new
home. Long live the Commodor mailing
list!

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
owner, Commodor mailing list


Commodore 1520 plotter printer Gears
------------------------------------
Jon "Acadiel" from the Commodore 128
Alive! forums is getting together a
pre-buy for a production of stainless
steel gears for the venerable
Commodore 1520 plotter printer. Other
than the ink pens which dry out in the
printer, the next most common cause of
printer failure is when the original
plastic drive gears break. This is
part of what he had to say:

I'm willing to coordinate a group buy,
if we get enough interest. You might
also want to advertise to the other
folks (the Atari folks and the TRS-80
folks) to drum up interest (I'm going
to advertise to the TI-99/4A folks,
because the HX1010 uses the same
gear.) Here's the cost for just the
gears (not including shipping),
rounded up to the nearest dollar,
based upon quantities:

Qty Cost
1 $335 (eek!)
5 $74 ($370 total for group buy)
25 $23 ($575 total for group buy)
50 $16 ($800 total for group buy)
100 $13 ($1300 total for group buy)

Now, I'm thinking that enough people
probably read this board and the TI
online user group to order 25 units
($23/ea). However, I want to get
pre-orders from everyone (no payments
yet!) to see if we have enough
interest. Example: If we get people to
order two (one for each side) and get
25 people, we can then get into the
$16/ea bracket.

Once we have enough interest, I can
initiate a group buy and get these
gears and ship them out (probably
small packages with delivery
confirmation), so there will be a S/H
cost (envelope, postage, and handling
to make up for any PayPal fees). If
anyone needs confirmation that I'm a
good guy, here's my e-bay feedback
(the picture is probably 10 years
old...):

http://members.ebay.com/ws/
 eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=
  jdguidry

So.....If you want to express interest
in pre-ordering gear(s), send an
e-mail to acadiel(at)guidry.org with
the Subject "Gears". I'll collect
these, and by October 15th I will see
how many people want gears.


1541 Ultimate V1.2 beta Firmware
Download
-------------
Beta versions
The following beta releases are
available for download. These are
versions that have not been fully
tested, and might need some polishing.

1541 Ultimate V1.2 beta Firmware
Download (PAL & NTSC in one package)
What has been done?

- Logic changes:
- B flag in the processor corrected, &
the V flag for ADC in decimal mode.
- Split cart base & mode, so more ROM
locations are possible for NTSC.
- Slot server corrected: disable serve
while in menu
- Memory controller corrected: removed
default flash chip enable. This solved
flashing from menu!
- Added logic to map Ethernet chip in
memory space
- Slightly modified timing to allow
Ethernet chip to meet timing
 requirements.
- Software changes:
- Added PAL/NTSC switch in menu
- Made scroller optional
- Made 1541 rom selectable
- Boot in menu option (which gave me a
headache in combination with Super
 Snapshot V5)
- Increased write protect sensor times
for better disk switch
- Improved SD-card change mechanism
- Added feature to exit menu upon pull
of SD-card, while booted in menu (just
 in case it locks up)
- Stand alone mode: mounting a disk
through IEC sets button navigation to
 that entry.
- Updated the updater! ;-)

1541 Ultimate V1.3 beta Firmware
Download (PAL/NTSC)
What has been done?

- Logic changes:
- IEC controller improved so that
address handling is now done in
 hardware
- This should fix the false reporting
of the non-existent drives
- RAMBoard support added.
- Software changes:
- Corrected the SS5 boot problem
- Configuration screen updated
- Various hardware types defined
- RAMBoard support added
- TAsm / Codenet cartrom added
- Updated the updater! ;-)

1541 Ultimate V1.5 beta Firmware
Download
What has been done?

- Logic changes:
- Floppy emulation revised, can now
support variable track lengths
- IEC controller improved to make it
more robust
- Some changes in AR/RR emulation
- Software changes:
- Added SDHC support
- Added GCR support (read only)
- Added auto disk-remount on power-up
- Partly rewritten the software IEC
controller to support
- multiple open files/channels
- SEQ, USR and REL files
- Updated the bootloader to support
SDHC as well
- Updated the updater to flash the
bootloader
- Some minor fixes

The updater will now wait about 4
seconds before it starts.

Please, do NOT turn of the power when
flashing. However, if the updater
hangs on flashing the bootloader, for
more than let's say 2 minutes, just
turn off the C64 and please contact
me. (The bootloader should only be
updated once, even if you run the
updater multiple times. The software
should automatically enforce this, but
if it goes wrong, contact me.)
Updating the bootloader is risky and
might brick your 1541U. Unfortunately
it is necessary for the SDHC support.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 20 September
2008 13:04 )


8-Bit designs
-------------
Charles has updated his website & the
address is now:
http://www.8bitdesigns.ath.cx/

Charles asked me to reprint some
details to remind people of his
services

Welcome to 8 Bit Designs! Thank you
for stopping by; I'm eager to serve
your Commodore-related needs. I'm
Charles Gutman, and I can provide a
number of products and services to
users of C64/128 computers. If you're
looking for cables, adapters, parts,
service, or upgrades for your CBM
equipment, I can provide what you need.

This site is my new home on the Web;
it supersedes the previous 8 Bit
Designs page on Windows Live Spaces.
Here, you'll find the complete 8 Bit
Designs catalogue of products and
services, all of which are available
to the worldwide Commodore user
community.

If you have any suggestions for
products or services that are not
currently listed here, please feel
free to inform me and I'll consider
each and every suggestion; and if
feasible, I'll post them here on the
site. Also, if you have any unwanted
Commodore hardware that you would like
to trash or donate, please consider
us; we would like to pass them along
to others in the community that desire
to have them.

Please feel free to contact me with
any questions, problems, concerns, or
feedback that you may have about
anything that you see here, be it
about the site itself, or one or more
of my products. Once again, thank you
for stopping by!

PRODUCTS available

1541-II/1581 Power Supply
Power supply for 1581 and 1541-II
floppy drives. $12

BNC Splitter Cables
BNC splitter cables for those running
BNC hardware. $20

C2N16 Cassette Adapter
This allows owners of the +4/Commodore
16 tape drive to use it on VIC-20 and
C64/128 systems. $8

Commodore 64/VIC-20 Power Supplies
Power supplies for C64 and VIC-20
computers. $10

Commodore 64C
Tested, working Commodore 64C. $18

Commodore 128 Computers
Stock and upgraded C128 systems. See
the product page for details. $25/$50

Commodore 128 RGB Cables
C128 RGB cables that have become hard
to find in recent years. They give the
128 user full 80 column display on a
compatible monitor. $20

Floppy Disks (Boxed, 5 inch, 10-pack)
Unused boxed floppy disks. $4

Floppy Disks (Boxed, 3 inch, 10-pack)
Unused boxed floppy disks. $7.50

HD81 Extension Cable
The HD81 extension cable is useful
when you need an extension to the
power supply for the CMD hard drive,
or the Commodore 1581 floppy drive. $20

Joysticks
Assorted joysticks that are all tested
and guaranteed functional. $5 and up
(contact)

Koala Pad
Touch-pad/drawing tablet for
Commodores. $20

Memory Chips
Set of 8 memory chips for Commodore 64
and 128 computers. $5

Plus/4 Edge Connector
The Plus/4 edge connector is used to
connect either a VIC-20 or C64
datasette to a Plus/4 (the Plus/4
datasettes are rare!). $20

Plus/4 Joystick Adapter
The Plus/4 joystick adapter allows an
Atari or C64 joystick to be connected
to a Plus/4. $20

Quad Port Plus
The Quad Port Plus is a new product in
the 8-Bit Designs line. It is a box
that plugs into the serial port on the
computer and gives out 4 serial ports
sharing a single reset switch. $25

Serial Bus Reset Switch
The Serial Bus Reset Switch is a
simple but handy device that allows a
user to reset the I/O ports on the
computer whenever "lockup" occurs. $15

         CONTINUED IN PART 3